Abstract

Elevated COVID-19 Case Rates of Government Employees, District of Columbia, 2020-22

Xinyi Hua, M.P.H, Jingjing Yin, Ph.D., Isaac C. H. Fung, Ph.D. Georgia Southern University

APHA 2022 Annual Meeting and Expo

Abstract
Objective: To estimate the rate ratio (RR) of reported COVID-19 cases among governmental employees from seven District of Columbia (D.C.) departments from March 2020 to February 2022.

Methods: Poisson Regression models were used to estimate the RR by department for five different time intervals, using D.C. residents as the reference and the person-day as the offset. The D.C. COVID-19 surveillance data, and the full-time equivalent hours for each department were obtained from the D.C. governmental websites.

Results: For the entire study period (03/07/2020-02/28/2022), the Fire and Emergency Medical Services employees’ rate ratio was three times that of the D.C. residents (RR=3.07, 95% CI, [2.91, 3.25]). This was followed by Department of Correction (RR = 2.53, 95% CI [2.34, 2.73]), Office of Unified Communication (RR = 2.15, 95% CI [1.84, 2.50]), Metropolitan Police Department (RR = 1.98, 95% CI [1.89, 2.07]), and the Youth Rehabilitation Services (RR = 1.62, 95%CI, [1.39, 1.87]). Furthermore, the Child and Family Service Agency and the Department of Motor Vehicles had lower overall rate ratios than the D.C. residents (RR<1). After being stratified by four pandemic stages (before the COVID-19 vaccine, until 50% of D.C. residents were fully vaccinated, before 5-to-10 years old children were eligible for COVID-19 vaccination, and when Omicron became the dominant variant), the rate ratios of FEMS, OUC, and MPD were constantly higher than the D.C. residents (RR>1).

Conclusion: The results suggested higher rate ratio for emergency responders and frontline personnel than for the general population in D.C.. Vaccination is highly recommended.